Energy, Sustainability and Carbon – Page 5

Metering strategy for a heat network development

Settle the metering architecture before the energy centre location is fixed. Which meters sit at each level, how distribution losses are allocated, and what a condition should secure.

Energy, Sustainability and Carbon8 min read

Charging points in communal car parks for existing blocks

A retrofit charging installation in an existing block sits outside Part S. What Part 2 of the GPDO permits, how supply capacity is established, and why section 20 consultation matters.

Reclaimed brick and steel reuse on a demolition site

Lime mortar gives clean brick recovery and cement mortar rarely does. Reused steel needs its properties established for BS EN 1090-1. Scope both before committing to a reuse condition.

Reporting regulated and unregulated emissions separately

Part L targets and carbon offset payments bite on regulated emissions only. Reporting both categories in one table, with the policy figure labelled, stops the most common review comment.

Proportionate sustainability statements for small schemes

Policies written for major schemes get applied to single dwellings through validation lists. How to answer each criterion with the shortest sufficient evidence.

Energy, Sustainability and Carbon8 min read

Green roof performance claims and the evidence behind them

Attenuation, habitat and cooling are three different claims resting on different parts of the build-up. What each needs by way of specification and evidence.

Energy, Sustainability and Carbon8 min read

Connection ready conditions for a future heat network

A connection-ready condition secures physical provision, not a commitment to buy heat. How to draft one that can be discharged, and what evidence the council will want.

Biomass heating in an air quality management area

An AQMA exists because an air quality objective is being missed, and wood combustion emits the pollutants in question. What a biomass heating application has to show on appliance data, flue height and alternatives.

Reconciling Part O overheating with Part L in one design

Part L rewards a sealed, well insulated envelope and Part O penalises the solar gain that comes with it. The conflict is resolved at massing stage, not at technical design.

Air permeability targets and as-built test failures

An air permeability figure in a Part L calculation is a promise about site workmanship. Here is where the leakage happens, how the test works and what to do when it fails.

Energy evidence for a refurbishment or retrofit application

Retrofit energy evidence sits across two regimes that ask for different things. This sets out what a planning case officer can require, where the Building Regulations take over and how to sequence the consents.

Upfront embodied carbon and how to report it

Upfront embodied carbon covers modules A1 to A5 and nothing else. State the boundary, name the benchmark the decision maker uses, and quantify every reduction against a stated baseline.

Plant space and risers for a communal heat pump scheme

Plant rooms, condenser arrays, thermal stores and wider risers all appear on the drawings you submit, and they all come out of net internal area. Settle the plant strategy before the unit layouts.

Sizing a rooftop photovoltaic array for a planning submission

A planning authority checks that the roof plan could physically carry the array and that the capacity claimed matches it. Measure the usable area first, then state every assumption behind the kWp and the yield.

Evidencing heat network feasibility in an energy statement

Most energy statements say no network was identified without showing that anyone looked. The search, the enquiries, the four kinds of reply and the safeguarding that follows.

Calculating and securing a carbon offset contribution

The offset sum is residual regulated emissions, times a period, times a price per tonne. How each number is derived and how the obligation should be drafted for a phased scheme.

Future Homes Standard transitional arrangements explained

Since the 2021 uplift, transitional provisions bite on each individual building rather than the whole site. What that means for a phased scheme and for the planning submission.

The notional building and fabric energy efficiency explained

Part L targets come from a notional dwelling with your geometry and a fixed specification. Why renewables can offset two of the three targets but never the fabric one.

SAP emission factors and their effect on heating choices

Under the Part L 2013 factor set a gas boiler was the low carbon answer. Under the Part L 2021 set the comparison reverses, and primary energy pulls the other way.

Target emission rate and target primary energy rate

The emission rate counts carbon per square metre, the primary energy rate counts energy at the point of generation. Direct electric heating passes one and fails the other.

Biomass boilers in a smoke control area

A biomass boiler in a smoke control area is lawful only where the appliance is exempt or the fuel is authorised, and the exemption conditions are where schemes fail.

Energy centre flue heights and air quality

A dispersion model usually wants a taller flue than the elevations allow. Model it before the massing is fixed, and design the plant to reduce the height you need.

Thermal bridging detail at planning stage

Linear thermal transmittance at junctions can move a scheme from passing to failing without changing a single U-value. What to commit to at planning stage, and what to leave open.

Overheating in roof level and mansard flats

Model the top floor first. Roof solar gain, limited dormer opening area and single aspect layouts make these the units that decide whether a block passes.